Smoke Motor Wire Harness Plug

[icanfixall]

Thats the item... When you find it on your truck pull it apart and look see... All the glow plug amps pass thru those two tiny pins. They get hot and melt the plastic connecter. Mine lasted till today so thats about 20 years. I usually grease it with dye electrical grease bout once a year.. Musta missed a year cause it burned up. I cut the two large wires on the end of it and removed them from the wireing loom on the motor. Then I threaded in the 8 gauge speaker wire and hooked it up. Tested it and it works great. No heat in the connections or the line. This is something everyone should do before it burns the connecter. Those pins inside the multi wire connecter are way too small for all that amperage going to the glow relay... Its just a matter of time....

 

[zpd307]

so to avoid the melting connector problem, you are running 4 ga wire from the gpr to a large fuse and then to the fender solenoid where all of the fusible links meet up? so basically like a headlight relay mod, in which you are trying reduce the load on the harness to prevent a meltdown. if so, i better get this done.......

 

[91f2504x4]

so to avoid the melting connector problem, you are running 4 ga wire from the gpr to a large fuse and then to the fender solenoid where all of the fusible links meet up? so basically like a headlight relay mod, in which you are trying reduce the load on the harness to prevent a meltdown. if so, i better get this done.......

There are a lot of connectors on these old trucks that like to melt. I am trying to think of all the ones that were melted when I pulled all the wiring out of my truck to do that swap. The main engine harnes plug was melted, the head light switch plug had melted, the plug on the back of the heater control switch was melted and the stock alternator plug was a little melted. I took care of all of them but the heater control plug, and I think that is due to my blower motor being worn and pulling too many amps.

But it is best to go ahead and fix the main engine harness connector before you lose function of your glow plugs or possibly start a fire.

 

[zpd307]

my luck, it would happen far from home and on the coldest day. up in deer camp comes to mind. anyway, i just got home from work and checked for the plug. i now remember that i checked the connection and regreased it when i got the truck last year. the pins are good. i noticed tonight that both ends where the wires go into the plugs are corroded. so this will be a priority project!

 

[geonc]

Where o where did you get that idea Geo? Thats one of the first mods I did to my 90 when I had it. I would use no less than 6ga (ideally 4) wire. Once I did mine up that way it would lite rite up in the cold.
Ken

Stole it from you buddy ;p I generally do give props to Ken when I post this mod but missed this one

 

[geonc]

I thought that was Foxtrot Tango Uniform, has to do with letting the smoke out.

This one more describes the body position so the 5 lbs of fatty mammary pectoral tissue
are facing vertical and no body movement---as in dead ;p

 

[Agnem]

Ford has gotten better but back in the era of these trucks, consistently undersized wire was the rule of the day. There must have been tremendous presure from accounting to save money on wire. The engineers no doubt figured... "well.. we could use this gauge as long as the load isn't on for too long." Unfortunately, they never thought these would become classics I guess. The connectors they were forced to use were sized for standard gas applications and were never spec'ed for high amperage applications.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Gary....clicky here

then just get you a 250 amp MEGA fuse---about $30 I did this along with #4 ga wire on my old IDI after a similiar incident when those yellow wires from the fender cannon plug went Tango Uniform ...also will notice less of a load on interior lights, gauge etc...when starting.

I second that!!!

Did that mod to Goldie this spring after smoking the second set of fusible links and I am sorry I waited so long to do it.
Man does that controller respond better now!

 

[typ4]

This one more describes the body position so the 5 lbs of fatty mammary pectoral tissue
are facing vertical and no body movement---as in dead ;p

Good one

 

[f-two-fiddy]

There should be a write up on this problem? It is pretty common.

I too, use car stereo amplifier power cables when I re-wire things under the hood. They're readily avilable, have excellent flow capabilities, resist oil/fuels, are flexible, and connectors are available for just about anything You'd want to do..

 

[VanBoy]

Wow. That's just plain scary! With out talking to anyone (maybe) all you folks and including myself did that mod! Or a variation.

My 90 van's GP's quit working and I traced it to the harness. It would provide power sometimes when there was no load. As soon as you GP it, no power. Sometimes you wiggle the harness and it worked, for a little bit. I knew something was up when I could smell that funky electrical smell.... Harness plug looked tight, but I never took it apart. I didn't want to **** w/ taking it apart to find a break in the wiring (didn't know it may have been the plug at the time), so I just by passed it w/ 4 guage cable (loomed and secured well), a mega fuse holder and went right to the battery. I just taped up the OEM wire end really good and zip tied it down. I even keep a spare mega fuse w/ me... just in case.

I posed about my problem in another forum. Most people were saying to check the relay or controller. There was no mention of the actual wiring harness being a factor.....